Disclaimer
It is a non-technical blog post. I wrote it in English because it’s very easy to translate something from English nowadays.
Background
We never choose the country where we were born.
If you were lucky enough to be born in a country where it’s easy to re/upcycle, then it’s amazing!
I was not that lucky.
Unfortunately, recycling is not the easiest task in my country, and administrative people spend little (relatively) time cleaning the environment and land fields. It forced me to find ways on what I can do with it.
Since I was visiting my family and friends during my summer vacation, I compiled a list of things that I’ll describe in this article.
Trash grabber
One of my best investments was buying Trash Grabber, aka Reach Extender.
I tried to collect litter with my hands before, but somehow, it raised the bar, so I quickly lost motivation. On the other hand, Trash Grabber made it fun and easy again! I use it in the following way: when I go outside in nature, I take it with me along with a trash bag. Then, I start to collect the litter around me. When all the trash bags are full, I try to find the nearest waste container or just put one under the tree so I can pick it up on my way home.
Easy and nice, right?
Well, it is. But do not do it very often. If you keep it seldom, it doesn’t become a heavy burden. Remember, getting burnt out is easy, so try to do it slowly but steadily.
One of the interesting side effects is that when people see you doing this with Trash Grabber, they start to get interested. A few people asked where to buy this thing. It may not be very sustainable, but you can prepare a paper printer QR code with a list of your local stores or online marketplaces where people can buy it.
Of course, just collecting and throwing waste in the bin has nothing to do with recycling. It’s not a sustainable solution. But it’s already a big thing. It’s much more psychologically easier to throw waste in nature if it’s already littered there.
I had a funny situation when I was collecting litter around two resting alkies, and they proudly proclaimed that they would collect all the waste they produced. It made me smile.
Kids
Kids like Trash Grabbers.
My nephew joins me every time I go out with Grabber, and he is around. This tool feels like something robotic. The pace of collecting slows a little, but I’m sure my nephew will overtake me with time. :)
Also, if you’re this type of person, you can make a Trash Grabber yourself with kids.
Recycling collectors places
Even if it’s not widely spread, there are already places where people can bring their waste for recycling. These could be containers for only glass, a specific type of plastic, or batteries.
Unfortunately, many such places are obscured and not easily found.
Let me give you a brief example from my experience.
I wanted to recycle glass bottles. I opened my home country’s most popular map application, Yandex.Maps, and tried to search for nearby glass recycling containers. The nearest one was about an hour’s walk from where I stayed. It’s not that far, honestly, but it requires a commitment from my side.
I decided to look in the search engine with the query something like “
I checked if I could quickly add my findings to the “Yandex.Map.” After clicking a few buttons, I submitted a new item to the map’s moderation. It was added in seven days!
Why did I tell you this story? Well, in my opinion, it will be easier to recycle if more people do it. On my next trip back home, I plan to collect more items and check if they all are easily foundable.
Switch to glass
This paragraph is very obvious, but I had never considered it before living in Germany. I was visiting my home country when it was hot there. I constantly need to stay hydrated. When I first walked into the grocery store, I had two options:
- A more comfortable one – a plastic bottle of water.
- Less comfortable one – a glass bottle of water.
The choice I made was, as you may already know, a glass bottle.
Glass is a material that people have been able to recycle, at least from the last century. Plastic, on the other hand, requires more technically developed infrastructure. Even if glass is not recycled and is left in the fields, it causes less damage to nature.
As soon as you start do it yourself people around you eventually will give it a try. Something very simple, but also powerful, when there are no better choices.